White House drafts executive order for indefinite detention

The White House is preparing an Executive Order on indefinite detention that will provide periodic reviews of evidence against dozens of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, according to several administration officials.

The draft order, a version of which was first considered nearly 18 months ago, is expected to be signed by President Obama early in the New Year. The order allows for the possibility that detainees from countries like Yemen might be released if circumstances there change.

But the order establishes indefinite detention as a long-term Obama administration policy and makes clear that the White House alone will manage a review process for those it chooses to hold without charge or trial.

Nearly two years after Obama’s pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo, more inmates there are formally facing the prospect of lifelong detention and fewer are facing charges than the day Obama was elected.

The right to liberty is one of the foundation rights of a free people. The idea that any US President can bypass Congress and bypass the Courts by issuing an Executive Order setting up a new legal system for indefinite detention of people should rightfully scare the hell out of the American people.

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[Comments] Do you think a government should be able to kill anyone they please and hold anyone in a cage for their rest of their life without charges without trial without conviction? Obama may not seek to do such a thing to you and your loved ones, but the policies he’s putting into place will ensure that any future president will have that power. Is that okay with you? Is that the kind of world you want to live in, that the “authorities” have the “right” to kidnap, torture, murder at their own discretion? Is that the kind of world you want to leave your decedents?

It doesn’t seem to me you are taking seriously your own Human Rights and the Human Rights of the people you care about. Do you really want to live in a society where the government can kidnap people, torture them, and throw them in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives for no reason? What if it happened to your partner or parent or your child? Would you still feel the same way? For someone who claims to be logical, it seems you’re really missing common sense. (Source)